G'day, We are flying half way round the world to join a cruise out of Ft Lauderdale. Never having been in the city before, I booked hotels via our Army Leave website, and would appreciate any positive or negative comments about either of them.

PRECRUISE... We are booked into the Comfort Inn Airport & Cruiseport Hotel for 1 night.

POSTCRUISE... We are booked into the Sheraton Airport and Cruiseport Hotel for 4 nights

I can't speak for those specific hotels, but I can say that I have stayed at several Comfort Inns before, and they aren't bad. The rooms are average, but nice. Sheraton is another nice hotel brand, and both of these hotels must meet certain standards by their franchise owners (Choice Hotels for Comfort Inn, and I assume Sheraton for the Sheraton) in order to keep the Comfort Inn and Sheraton names.

These hotels I think will be fine, just going by the brand names. I know for sure Comfort Inn offers a continental breakfast (whether you look at it as free, or included in the price of the room is up to you). I'm not sure about Sheraton.

Thanks mate, I have booked both places under the military discount deal and both include breakfast. The sheraton also includes a nightly reception with finger food and drinks etc.

What I was more interested in as well as hotel quality is what the neighbourhood was like and what local attractions to show the kids that you don't need a car for as I am not inclined to hire a vehicle that you drive on the opposite side of the road. We have a number of accidents over here caused by visitors who are used to driving on the wrong side and causing accidents.

I believe the Comfort Inn is the one on the Corner of US1 and 17th Street Causeway. Not sure where the Sheraton would be. Do you have an address? There is a water taxi that picks up at the Pier 66 and the Grand Floridian on the intracoastal and 17th street causeway. They charge $10/pp for all day, you can ride it as many times as you like. I'd take that all the way to the end, there's a great restaurant/bar on the intracoastal called Charlie's Crab, and also another one called Shooters. Along the way, you get a nice tour of Ft. Lauderdale. They have stops you can get to the beach. Stops for shopping at Las Olas boulevard. There's a stop for Birch State Park. There's also a great tour on the Jungle Queen. It takes you to an Indian village and a bar-b-que lunch/dinner. If you like fishing you could go on a drift fishing boat or charter a boat for deep sea fishing. There's also tours to the Everglades. Your hotels or even the cruise line can arrange some tours for you. Hope this helps a little.